Is this the most excruciating moment on Australian television? Political 'expert' suggests Don Randall should replace Bronwyn Bishop as Speaker - before bewildered ABC hosts inform him that he died two weeks ago

A political academic has suggest a late politician will be the next speaker

A supposed political expert embarrassed himself on national television today when he was asked to nominate a replacement for outgoing speaker Brownwyn Bishop - and he named an MP who is dead.

Dr Scott Burchill, a senior lecturer in international relations at Deakin University who frequently appears on TV and radio and as a guest newspaper columnist as a political expert, made the humiliating gaffe on the ABC TV's flagship morning program News Breakfast.

Hosts Michael Rowland and Trioli were discussing who would likely be the next speaker in federal parliament following the resignation of Bronwyn Bishop amid her travel rorts scandal.

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Dr Scott Burchill (far right) awkwardly suggested the late Don Randall will be Australia's next speaker

‘It looks like it is going to go to a Liberal MP. It looks like it’s going to go to…’ Michael Rowland said, before Burchill jumped in, saying: ‘Don Randall?’

Federal MP Don Randall died suddenly last week from a suspected heart attack at the age of 62.

Liberal backbencher Don Randall died two weeks ago after a suspected heart attack

The ABC program was speculating about speaker Bronwyn Bishop's successor after her resignation

Media industry web site Mumbrella called the gaffe 'one of the most painfully awkward moments... on Australian breakfast television.'

‘It was a slip of the tongue which I corrected on air,’ Dr Burchill told Daily Mail Australia after the incident.

‘Occasionally at 6am in the morning you can get the names mixed up.’

Mr Randall was farewelled at a funeral service in Perth last Friday that was attended by Prime Minister Tony Abbott as well as Bronwyn Bishop and many other Liberal politicians.

Mr Randall was a former horse trainer who served in parliament for 17 years, and was remembered at his funeral as a ‘fair dinkum MP’.

Dr Scott Burchill is a senior lecturer in international relations at Deakin University and former political officer

On his own web site, Dr Burchill lists himself as a regular contributor to ABC News Breakfast and ABC radio in Melbourne, as well as appearing on Channel 10's The Project. He has also been a contributor to The Age newspaper in Melbourne.

Dr Burchill's official Deakin University biography says he is a senior lecturer in International Relations in the university's School of International and Political Studies. Before joining Deakin, he was a political officer at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra, specialising in Indo-China and Europe.

Federal speaker Bronwyn Bishop arrives at the funeral for Don Randall Funeral on Friday (in tan jacket) at Pinaroo Memorial Park in Perth, just days before her resignation